


Hazelnut Coffee and Chess

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Series: October Ficlet Challenge [8]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 07:57:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12272181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: Ace hates her current job as a barista. The new patron, though... she'll have to wait and see.Prompt: coffeeshop AU; pairing: Seventh Doctor/Ace McShane





	Hazelnut Coffee and Chess

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt and beta by imaginary_golux.
> 
> There may be more of this later, hence the chapter 1/?, but this is it at least until the end of October.
> 
> Trigger warning--brief mention of an abusive relationship.

The only thing Ace hated worse than working as a barista was not having anything to do. And given that she was currently suspended from university for triggering a _perfectly controlled_ explosion in the chem lab and she had gotten fired from her last job as a waitress for dumping one richly deserved milkshake over the head of one seriously dipshitty customer, helping out at the local coffee shop was about as good as she could hope for until...

Until what? Until she could go back to school? Not likely, given that her scholarship had been revoked. Until she could save enough money to leave Perivale? Which would be approximately never, given what she was making. 

Ace snorted. No, she was in for the foreseeable. At least her coworkers were nice, she mused, thinking of Ray, who helped out during the morning rush before spending the rest of the day at her dad's auto body shop, and of Mags, the other full-time employee. 

"Plans this weekend?" Mags asked, bringing Ace back to the land of the hyper-caffeinated.

"Nah," Ace replied. "You?" She asked, dreading the answer.

"Probably just hang out with Cappy."

"You know he's bad news, right?" Mags's older, abusive boyfriend hadn't been the cause of any out-and-out fights between them. Yet.

"He-- I-- He's done a lot for me."

Ace, disgusted, turned to the next customer. He was shorter than average, middle-aged. Unruly black hair with a Panama hat above and kind, lined features below. She liked him at once. "Can I help you?" 

"Just coffee. Black."

"Sugar?"

"What an excellent question!" His eyes smiled. "You know, I once delivered an entire lecture on the subject."

"Sure thing, Professor." He nodded, apparently oblivious to her sarcasm. "You new around here? Haven't seen you at the local university."

"Very observant of you." He smiled. "And...no sugar, but hazelnut syrup, I think. Never let it be said that I'm not living dangerously."

"You got it," she laughed, and rang him up. She watched him sit and take out a travel chess set, already well into the middle game. He contemplated the pieces until she called out "Hazelnut coffee, black, Professor."

"Professor?" He asked, rolling the r's deliciously.

"I didn't get your name."

"Nor did I get yours."

"You can call me Ace." She offered him her hand.

"In that case, Ace, Professor will do just nicely." He took a sip of the coffee. "It's a great power, to name something," he remarked, dipping his head and taking his drink to one of the many unoccupied tables.

“You _like_ him.”

“I do not,” Ace protested.

“You don’t talk to any of the customers,” Mags pointed out. “But you talked to him.”

“Hardly means anything,” Ace said, and forced her eyes away from the peculiar little man, still gazing at his chessboard. Well, she thought, let’s see if he comes in again.


End file.
